Wieferich primes in number fields and the conjectures of Ankeny--Artin--Chowla and Mordell

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Autores principales: Fellini, Nic, Murty, M. Ram
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Fellini, Nic
Murty, M. Ram
author_facet Fellini, Nic
Murty, M. Ram
contents For a prime $p\equiv 1 \,(\bmod{4})$, let \[ \varepsilon = \frac{1}{2}\left( t + u\sqrt{p}\right) \] be the fundamental unit of the real quadratic field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{p})$. In 1951, N. Ankeny, E. Artin, and S. Chowla asked whether $p$ can divide $u$. They suggested that this can never happen and this has since been called the Ankeny--Artin--Chowla (AAC) conjecture. We show that if $\mathfrak{p}$ is the prime above $p$ in $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{p})$, then the AAC conjecture is false if and only if \[ \varepsilon^{p-1} \equiv 1\, (\bmod{\mathfrak{p}^2}). \] Thus, the AAC conjecture is related to the existence of number field analogues of Wieferich primes. Therefore, in the second part of this paper, we investigate the infinitude of Wieferich primes in number fields. Subject to Masser's $abc$-conjecture for number fields, we prove that for any fixed $α\in \mathcal{O}_K\setminus\{0\}$ that is not a root of unity, there are infinitely many primes ideals $\mathfrak{p}\subseteq \mathcal{O}_K$ for which \[ α^{N(\mathfrak{p})-1} \not\equiv 1\, (\bmod{\mathfrak{p}^2}). \] Additionally, we show under the weaker assumption that there are finitely many base-$α$ super-Wieferich primes, and that there are infinitely many base-$α$ non-Wieferich primes. In both cases, we obtain the lower bound \[ \#\left\{\text{prime ideals } \mathfrak{p} : N(\mathfrak{p})\leq x \text{ and } α^{N(\mathfrak{p})-1}\not\equiv 1 \,(\bmod{\mathfrak{p}^2})\right\} \gg_{K, α, \varepsilon} \frac{\log x}{\log\log x} \] as $x\to \infty$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_08472
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Wieferich primes in number fields and the conjectures of Ankeny--Artin--Chowla and Mordell
Fellini, Nic
Murty, M. Ram
Number Theory
11R04 (Primary), 11N69, 11G05 (Secondary)
For a prime $p\equiv 1 \,(\bmod{4})$, let \[ \varepsilon = \frac{1}{2}\left( t + u\sqrt{p}\right) \] be the fundamental unit of the real quadratic field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{p})$. In 1951, N. Ankeny, E. Artin, and S. Chowla asked whether $p$ can divide $u$. They suggested that this can never happen and this has since been called the Ankeny--Artin--Chowla (AAC) conjecture. We show that if $\mathfrak{p}$ is the prime above $p$ in $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{p})$, then the AAC conjecture is false if and only if \[ \varepsilon^{p-1} \equiv 1\, (\bmod{\mathfrak{p}^2}). \] Thus, the AAC conjecture is related to the existence of number field analogues of Wieferich primes. Therefore, in the second part of this paper, we investigate the infinitude of Wieferich primes in number fields. Subject to Masser's $abc$-conjecture for number fields, we prove that for any fixed $α\in \mathcal{O}_K\setminus\{0\}$ that is not a root of unity, there are infinitely many primes ideals $\mathfrak{p}\subseteq \mathcal{O}_K$ for which \[ α^{N(\mathfrak{p})-1} \not\equiv 1\, (\bmod{\mathfrak{p}^2}). \] Additionally, we show under the weaker assumption that there are finitely many base-$α$ super-Wieferich primes, and that there are infinitely many base-$α$ non-Wieferich primes. In both cases, we obtain the lower bound \[ \#\left\{\text{prime ideals } \mathfrak{p} : N(\mathfrak{p})\leq x \text{ and } α^{N(\mathfrak{p})-1}\not\equiv 1 \,(\bmod{\mathfrak{p}^2})\right\} \gg_{K, α, \varepsilon} \frac{\log x}{\log\log x} \] as $x\to \infty$.
title Wieferich primes in number fields and the conjectures of Ankeny--Artin--Chowla and Mordell
topic Number Theory
11R04 (Primary), 11N69, 11G05 (Secondary)
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08472